Order Confirmation: The Secret To Eliminating Mistakes

Sometimes I bet this thought runs through our customer’s head...

Ugh, why do I have to sign and return this order confirmation? I talked to my sales person and told him exactly what I wanted. My mailing isn’t complicated. I asked to just print off a quick letter to my customers and stuff it in an envelope. How difficult is that? Or, it’s just a simple postcard…

Your particular job may not be difficult or complicated but it’s YOUR job and you’re paying good money to have it done correctly. These are marketing dollars you’ve worked hard for, and you want to invest them wisely. We take this very seriously at HMS and every job — large, small, straightforward, or complicated — we want you completely satisfied. We want to ensure you get exactly what you’ve asked for and help you get the best possible response rate.

At Handy Mailing Service we “Strive to Exceed Your Expectations,” and one way we do this is with a detailed order confirmation. It’s the “Holy Grail” that travels to each section in our operation. Each of our stations — data processing, printing, production, quality control —  reads the signed order confirmation so there is no miscommunication about what’s expected.

Here are some of the details that could be listed on your order confirmation:

• The quantity and expected mail date.
• Specifics of your art files as well as the paper being printed on.
• How your list will be processed, which includes the option to run it through NCOA or remove duplicate names and addresses.
• It will define how we are to fold and finish your piece.
• Whether it’s personalized, and where that personalization is located on the piece.
• What kind of envelope you want and the font for the delivery and return address.
• The postage class you want to mail.
• And much more — depending on the complexity of your job.

Each job is unique and has its own nuances, so this document is as much for your benefit as it is ours. It’s so you know, that we know, what we are doing is exactly what you requested. It’s extremely important to fully review this document when you receive it and understand its contents.

In fact, it’s so important that we will not process your job without receiving your signature first!  

But in the end, you know why we do it? We want to produce your job error-free, 100% of the time. And by doing this, we’ll save money and — more importantly — you’ll save money.